Hate That I Love You
by it just kind of happened
Summary: Alternate ending to "Phantom of Venice." I originally posted this as tastetherainbow on HerInteractive. Nancy realizes that not everything is as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I posted this as tastetherainbow on HeR :) Thought I'd post it here, too.

**Disclaimer: **I have the Nancy Drew computer games...does that count?

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**1**

**My fingers** trembled with a mix of anticipation and fear as I poked the soft buttons that made up the keypad. I swallowed a lump of fear that had set up shop in my throat and carefully swung open the door.

I stood there for several moments, gazing into the blackness beyond the doorframe. I couldn't bring myself to actually step inside, I realized with a jolt of – well, a jolt of that feeling you get when you realize that you're being stupid. I had been through so much and I was afraid of a stinkin' door.

"You've got it, Drew," I said aloud. My voice bounced off the walls around me and shot back into my ears, piercing my eardrums. "Ow," I mumbled, rubbing my ears. Before I could convince myself otherwise I hopped through the doorway, half expecting a monster to gobble me up.

_Well would you look at that,_ I thought, _I'm still alive._ I glanced down and wiggled my toes just to make sure. Yep, the ends of my light pink Converse were making the same flexing movements that my toes were.

I snapped my head up. "I'm digressing," I hissed, tugging my handy-dandy purple pocket flashlight out of, well, my pocket. I flicked it on and shone the light around the small circular room, finding that I was alone with rusty walls and a weird grated floor. I took a step forward and peered closer at the floor, since me and rust just don't go well together. My, ahem, accidents with rust were so bad I didn't even want to look at it.

Just let me say one thing: orange feet for three months straight are no fun. Especially not when you're going on vacation to the beach for two of those weeks. And, naturally, during the summer: flip-flop season.

I was digressing again.

With a shake of my head I was back on track, trying to see what the heck was going on with that freak-o grate thing. What sort of floors are grates? Wimpy floors that don't have the guts to become hardwood.

I was about to actually get on my hands and knees to stare into the grate when a loud banging sound frightened me. I screamed, forgetting where I was and how bouncy the walls were (sound-wise), and then found myself on the floor anyway, holding my ears. I sat on my knees for a few seconds then realized that it was pitch black.

"Flashlight?" I grumbled aloud. "Oh zappers, I must have dropped it."

Wait.

Pitch black.

"Door?" I squeaked, twisting around to face the place where the door was supposed to be. From which _light_ was supposed to be pouring in.

Okay, so either the light was dumb and had gone off to pour in somewhere else, or the door had been slammed shut. I decided to put my money on the shut door because of the sound. Light does not make sounds like that.

I was musing about my current situation, trying to shed some light on the subject (ha-ha! ha-ha!) when I found that the knees of my jeans were wet.

"Uh?" I grunted intelligently, scrambling to my feet. Then my socks were wet, along with my favorite pair of shoes, and then my calves started getting wet. I whirled around and ran slap-bang into the slammed-shut-door.

Having no other choice (other than drowning, and I really didn't feel like doing that today), I started to bang on the door. Being me I had left behind my cell phone at the Ca'Nascosta, and I couldn't see the stupid little PDA thingy in the dark. Those engineers...they should have thought of a lighted screen! Don't they know that people get trapped in situations like these every day?

The water was up to my back pockets. It was swirling, dark (well, duh), and _cold_. The last time I had been in water that was this cold was at the water park this one time, when Bess, George and I went –

Man, even when I'm about to die I'm going off on tangents.

Whoever thought of that saying, anyway?

Wait a second. I'm about to die.

That was when I started to scream, regardless of the ringing in my ears. I was pushing my whole body against the door and banging on it with both my fists. I was seriously about to give up all hope just as the water rose to my neck; then the door magically swung open as I screamed, "OPEN SESAME!"

As water poured out from around me and I blinked to adjust to the light, I looked down at my hands. "I'm magic," I said proudly.

I glanced up and found myself looking at a mask. "I can't even _see_ my rescuer?" I exclaimed, irked (ooh, I love that word!).

"No," he said in a thick Italian accent. And with that, and a swish of a midnight black cape, he was gone.

A knight in shining armor and I couldn't even see him. No matter that he wasn't shining, or in armor. Well, I mean, I could see him, but I couldn't figure out who he was. What sort of person do I know has an Italian accent _that_ thick? Man, if that was Colin, he was seriously going a little too far with that crazy accent...

I shook my whole body like Togo back home. Water droplets splattered everything around me, and that was a wake-up call. Huh-llo! Ned Nickerson? Loyal boyfriend? Coming to see you today?

And I'm going to look like a wet dog.

Joe will never let me forget this.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Thanks for the reviews! :) Here's the next chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Nancy Drew.

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**2**

**I mean**, come on – what sort of rescuer doesn't say who he is? Well, if it had been like, Shrek or something, I could understand why they wouldn't want to show their face, but his hair had been awesome. And doesn't awesome hair make up for everything else?

Dude I am prejudiced. Or else I'm just weird. Or else...

"Hi, guys!" I exclaimed happily as I burst into the Ca'Nascosta. Joe Hardy was standing with his back to me, chatting it up with Helena. Oh, I bet he was happy. Wait a second, how much older than him _is_ she?

"Hey, Nance," said Ned. He thrust himself off the couch and walked over to hug me. He backed off in a couple of seconds. "How's the case?"

Oh. My. God.

How stupid can he get? Asking me about the case? In front of Colin and Helena? HELLO! EARTH TO NED! "Not now," I hissed, tugging on his hand and nodding at my room.

"Oh, you must be Nancy's boyfriend," called Helena, looking over at Ned. She zeroed in on my hand, which was still encasing Ned's, and I could've sworn lightning struck somewhere in the world. Helena, still giving me the Evil Eye, said, "I'm Helena, Helena Berg."

"Nancy!" squealed Joe, galloping over to hug me. In the process of being squashed I let go of Ned's hand. He didn't look so happy about that. Joe let go of me swiftly. "Guess what Helena told me?"

Helena butted in, trying to look either flirty or coy or something like that – whatever she was trying to do, it wasn't working. She just looked sort of like she was in pain. "That silly Nico boy escaped jail. I'm not sure how he did it alone. He must have had backup of some sort." She gave me this look that said she thought _I_ was the backup.

I put my hands up in the air as if she had taken a swipe at me. "Hey, hey – I don't even _know_ the guy! He stole my necklace." Helena still looked kind of iffy. "I was the one that _put_ him in jail."

"Nobody said that they were suspicious of you, Nancy," said Helena slowly, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

_God, I do _not_ like this woman,_ I thought, turning to Ned and Joe who were standing there trying to look small. I opened my mouth to say something when Colin called from the other end of the room, "The tesserae! It's...it's amazing!"

I half expected him to fall to his knees and start singing a hymn about tesserae to the sky. Ned and I exchanged amused looks. Joe scurried over to Colin's table and poked a piece of tesserae as if he had no idea what on earth it was.

Helena frowned and spun around in her awesome swivel chair. Someone as mean as Helena doesn't deserve a chair that awesome.

"So?" whispered Ned, "mystery? Good?"

I pointed at my room. It dawned on him suddenly that he wasn't supposed to talk about the case in front of other people. Other potential suspects. Ned gave me a quick nod, and I led him to my room. Joe followed close behind.

I shut the door behind them. Ned stood, gazing out the window with a look of awe on his face, and Joe flopped backwards onto Helena's bed. My eyes lingered on Joe for a moment longer because he had begun to squirm on the bed, trying to get into a comfortable position.

"Guys," I whisper-snapped. Ned turned around to look at me and Joe popped up into a sitting position on the wrinkled maroon bedcover. "Do you know what this means? Nico Petit has escaped jail!"

"I know," said Ned simply. "Helena just said that he escaped jail."

I grimaced as he invoked the Evil Woman's name. I almost thought for a second she would suddenly leap through the door and kill me...or something worse. "I _know_ that, Ned," I sighed, "I'm not stupid.

"Anyway, if Nico has escaped jail, then there are others out there. Other people who _know_ people. Other people besides Il Dottore."

Joe was nodding slowly, drinking it all in like a sponge. Ned appeared mildly confused. "Well, naturally, Nancy. It's a crime ring."

I was seriously about to smack him upside the head or something when my PDA began to vibrate in my back pocket. I held up a finger, signaling for Ned and Joe to wait a moment so I could finish speaking before they thought I was just stupid and repeating everything they already knew, which I basically was doing, although I'm not saying I'm stupid, I must say that I'm not very stupid at all, I must also point out that my last sentence sounded very narcissistic if that's a word at all, and in any case I held the PDA to my ear.

"Hello, Nancy Drew," said Sophia.

"What is it?" I asked her, my irritation from my recent conversation leaking into this one.

"Nico Petit -"

"- has escaped jail, yeah, I know. How come a journalist knew about this before I did? Journalists aren't psychic, you know."

Sophia sighed. "Sorry, Nancy, I didn't think he would factor into this any more since everyone knows that he is the Phantom. He can't really do much of anything without getting caught and dragged to jail."

"True," I allowed, "but we still gotta keep tabs on him, right?"

"Right," echoed Sophia. "Good luck, Nancy."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "You didn't tell me what to -" I looked down at the PDA, dangling limply from my hand, and realized that she had already hung up. "- do?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Cheers! :) Yeah, Ned really can be strange. I never really liked him. :P Except for in _Treasure in the Royal Tower_ - he was very helpful in that one. Sorry about the shortness!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Nancy Drew!

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**3**

**Before I** could even fathom what I had to do, I had to do it. If that makes any sense whatsoever. I shooed Ned and Joe out of the room and pulled on my Samantha Quick disguise, thinking that I would slyly just slip in a quick question about Nico's whereabouts during a game of Scopa.

I fluffed up my fake platinum blonde hair and walked out of the room. Ned stopped me before I could leave the Ca'.

"Nancy?" he asked incredulously, "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting some answers," I said truthfully. I started to walk away, feeling the need to get to Enrico Tazza's before I could convince myself otherwise. Ned grabbed my hand, however, and pulled me back.

"Nah, seriously," he said.

"Oh, just around," I said, waving a hand in the air. Helena was watching from behind a book...an upside-down book...and I didn't want her knowing where I was going. Ned, being stupid yet again, said, "Where around?"

"Why are you questioning me?" I snapped, my patience wearing thin. I yanked my hand away from him and stomped toward the door, slamming it shut once I was through.

Finally, some peace and quiet! I took my time to walk to the Casa dei Giochi, feeling the need to stay away from Ned for a while. Ned and his trivial worries. I mean, I know that I almost die like every five seconds, but I haven't yet, right?

I was standing in front of the door in fifteen minutes, wondering how to adjust my sweaty wig without giving myself away. The little video camera swung around and zeroed in on me and Enrico Tazza's creepy voice said, "Ah...Samantha..." there was a giggle in the background that I had no time to ponder as I walked inside.

Oh my God.

No wonder she was giggling.

Samantha Quick was sitting at the Scopa table, where I normally sat. Her eyes pierced me and she gave me a quick I-told-you-to-watch-out look with a half-smile. Enrico laughed aloud at me, beckoning at someone across the room to come and get me as he said, "Nice try, Nancy Drew." I dropped my cell phone in shock.

I was seriously thinking that I was about to die or something when another voice, deeper, and with a crazy-thick Italian accent, said, "Relax, dear old step-father...I asked her to come dressed as Samantha Quick."

That voice! That crazily Italian voice! I whirled around and my eyes clashed with someone else's iridescent green gaze. My eyes widened, and Enrico said the name as I thought it. "Nico."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Thanks for reading, people! :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Nancy Drew.

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**4**

**Nico nodded** once, never taking his eyes off my face. Those glowing eyes were sending shivers down my spine. I felt like he knew who I was, even though he had no reason to know. How _could_ he know? "She's Samantha's new stunt double."

Samantha's half-smile faded quickly and was replaced with a scowl. "I don't need a stunt double, Nico!" she snapped.

Nico shrugged. "Oh. Well, I thought you did." He turned to me and held out his arm. "Off we go. Let me escort you -" He didn't even get to finish his 'suave' line.

Samantha's head snapped toward me. "Don't let him!" she said, "He's _che schifo_!"

I blinked. "Um…" I said, "…I'll just…you know, go…" Nico still had his arm in escort position, so having no other choice, I threaded my arm through his and he walked me out of the Casa dei Giochi.

"Well, little lady," said Nico, once we were standing outside Enrico's hangout/might-as-well-have-been-his-house, "I don't know who you are, but I advise you not to come back unless you really need to."

Curiosity got the best of me as I removed my arm from Nico's. "Why did Samantha think you were…um…awful?"

Nico cocked his head. "We dated. We broke up." His eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just wondering," I said simply. "And thanks for, you know, saving me."

"No problem," said Nico. "I'm Nico Petit."

I froze. "I'm, um, uh, Punchy LaRue."

"…interesting." I could see that he was fighting off a smile, and half a dimple appeared in his cheek.

A strangled silence washed over us, and Nico stepped back into the shadows that shrouded the Casa dei Giochi.

"Well," said Nico, clasping his hands together loudly, "I've gotta run. Police are everywhere. You never know who's watching." As I watched with my bottom jaw dropped he turned on his heel and strode back into the building.

How the cuttlefish did he know who I was? Well, I don't know if he knew who I was, but it sure seemed like it. He was dropping hints like crazy.

I glanced down at my arm and an electric shockwave rattled my bones. Nico Petit was the step-son of Enrico Tazza. Dude. Kinda freaky. And, another thing to add to the file cabinet that was my brain, Nico Petit and Samantha Quick had had a…thing. Eew. Too weird to think about for longer than five minutes.

I reached down to grab my cell phone, but it wasn't there. My heartbeat quickened as I tried to frantically retrace my steps (mentally). I was holding it as I walked in. Oh man, I'm dumb. I had actually left my cell phone in the clutches of a crime ring.

Oh, Lordy, Lordy, I have a feeling I won't stop making stupid little mistakes till I'm forty. (Heehee! Rhyme!)

I rummaged through my little white clutch and found that yes, my EnV touch-screen was indeed right below a mind-boggling amount of criminals' noses. I sighed noisily and walked over behind the lucky dumpster to talk to Sophia.

"Sophia," I whispered at the PDA screen.

"Nancy Drew?" asked Sophia, like she didn't have caller ID.

I rolled my eyes, then remembered that she couldn't see me. "I found Nico Petit," I said in a quiet voice, glancing around. I had a strange feeling that someone, or something, was watching me.

"Really?" squealed Sophia. I was speechless for the second time in fifteen minutes. Sophia, all-serious, no-fun, no-games Sophia, had just _squealed_. This was so a Bess moment for her. She cleared her throat. "Ahem, I mean, where shall we go to capture him?"

"The Casa dei Giochi," I said, "Enrico Tazza knows that he's here." I was about to divulge that little morsel of information about Nico and Enrico's relation, but for some reason, felt guilty about it and didn't.

"Tazza?" echoed Sophia quizzically.

"Yep," I answered, trying to sound my peppiest. I wasn't the best liar. (I know it's sorta weird for a detective to be saying that she's a bad liar, and unless other peoples' lives count on it, I am. No, seriously. Stop laughing!)

I could actually hear the smile in Sophia's voice. "Thank you, Nancy. We will send a team over there right now." She hung up.

I stared down at the PDA in my hand, wondering why the zippy zoom I was feeling so guilty. Maybe because Nico Petit had saved my life twice and in return I was condemning his. Ooh. Sounded really bad when I put it that way.

There was no way in Looneyville that I was going to waltz back in there to grab my cellie, and there was also no way in Toontown that I was going to run back in there to warn Nico. How out-of-character would _that_ be?

"Drew," I said aloud, "get a hold of yourself."

And I walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** What can I say? I'm lazy. :P Don't shoot me. *hides* Please enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this.

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**5**

**"You actually** left your _cell phone_ there?" Ned asked incredulously, as if nobody ever made mistakes and I was the first detective to do so.

"Well, yeah," I mumbled, heat rising to my cheeks.

"You obviously can't go back and get it," said Ned, pacing around my room as he thought, "so why didn't you ask Sophia to fetch it when she went to re-arrest Petit?"

"Nico," I corrected automatically. Ned stopped pacing and gave me the weirdest look I have possibly seen in my life (although, if you want weird, ask for Sonny Joon). I shrugged. "I was just saying."

Ned shook his head as if to clear it and resumed pacing. "Let's see…there's basically nothing you can do now. They're going to find your phone, scroll through all your contacts,"-at this I winced-"most likely hunt down half of those contacts and ask for information about you, then find you and kill you."

"Thanks, Ned," I said, "I really needed that sort of, you know, uplifting advice." I walked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I was shaking in my shoes (not in a scared way, in a mad way).

I stomped over to my cosmetics bag and pulled out my hair straightener. If I was going out as Samantha Quick's stunt double, then I might as well prepare for it. I straightened my hair within a matter of minutes and tied it up in a high bun. I scurried outside to find that Ned was gone (probably chatting with Helena). I swung open my closet door, snatched up my shiny blonde wig, and carefully placed it on my head.

With a noisy sigh, I pulled on a different pair of pants; white skinny jeans. I supposed that's what Samantha Quick would wear, if she ever got tired of that boring red dress. I placed my black sunglasses on my face and decided that my shirt was all right for a Samantha Quick outfit.

Ha! That sounded like Samantha Quick was a fashion line. It would be a pretty cool name for one.

I left the Ca', Ned not even noticing. Joe was off flirting with some girl he met yesterday. Colin watched me leave, however, and I found that quite stalker-ish. Anyway, I hurried to the Casa dei Giochi and right as I was about to enter, Samantha Quick herself made an exit. I pretty much dove behind the dumpster and watched as she clicked away in her supremely high heels. She was wearing a different dress than yesterday's old red one. Today's dress was a sundress. She blended in more with the crowd.

I took a deep breath, smoothed down my jeans, and walked into the Casa dei Giochi. Funny, they hadn't asked for my name, or looked at me or anything.

A thought struck me. _Maybe they were all taken away._ No, that's way too ridiculous. Sophia would never do that. Half the random people in there were just that – random people that liked to play poker or whatever. Wait a second, poker is like, American. No, poker can't be _just_ American, that's just as ridiculous as the idea of Sophia dragging off some random dudes.

I shook my head once. Digression was quite annoying, which was unfortunate, since I did it a lot.

Once inside the building, I found that it was half-empty and much more lonely than usual. I recognized a head of dark brown hair. It reminded me of dark chocolate and cherries. Mmm…

"C'mon, Enrico," whined Nico. I realized that I was about to walk into some sort of meeting and ducked behind the bar counter.

"I do not approve of your decision, Nico," said Enrico in a hard-as-a-rock scolding voice. "You do not need to go and change your face after every crime you commit."

Nico must've kicked a table leg or something, because I could see Enrico's glass of bubbly beverage quivering. "I have to, Enrico!" said Nico, his voice hardening. "The police! They must have _seen_ me! That's how they knew I was here!"

_Oh yeah,_ I thought sheepishly, _I set the police on him._ I cringed as I realized that he was talking about getting plastic surgery to change his face. Aaw, and I thought his hair was awesome…

"Just continue to hide," suggested Enrico. "I don't have the money to pay for plastic surgery that is not required, Nico, and I don't intend to get it. Now go off and play some Scopa with that stunt double friend of yours."

I blinked once I figured out that he was talking about me. I slowly straightened up and saw Nico standing up and leaving the table. I walked toward him, and he waved a little. He looked completely exhausted.

"Hi," I said.

"What part of try not to come back did you not understand?" asked Nico. He didn't sound like he was trying to be mean; instead, he came across as slightly concerned.

I shrugged. "The not coming back part?"

That brought a tiny wisp of a smile to his face. He shook his head and gestured to an empty table. "Scopa?"

"Naturally," I replied, smoothly taking a seat at the table. He sat down across from me and handed out the cards.

We were about half-way through the game when Antonio Fango stalked inside, hands crammed in his blazer pockets. He was staring at the floor with a perpetual scowl glued to his face. Jeez, did that man _ever_ smile!

Before I could realize what was going on, Nico had ducked below the table and was flattening himself against the ground. I crossed my legs and tried to look like I was sitting alone for some special reason that only I knew. I'm pretty sure I came across as desperate instead, because Fango shot me a glare and went to the back.

I scooted back my chair and leaned down to look under the table. "Uh, dude?" I said, "What was the crazy hiding thing for?"

Nico scrambled to get back up into his chair. "Fango and I…don't get along."

"Why not?" I asked, tilting my head to one side.

Nico cocked one eyebrow and folded his arms, leaning back in his chair with a smug look on his face. "I'll tell you why when you tell me your real name…_Punchy_."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Anybody reading? If so, please let me know via review! If not, I'll keep posting this for my own enjoyment. :P

**Disclaimer:** I don't own ND!

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**6**

**Well, since** I had no earthly idea what I was going to say to Nico, I worked on making my expression all calm-like instead. Once I had blinked all emotion out of my eyes I said, looking directly into Nico's bright green eyes, "Elizabeth. I mean, that's my middle name, but I go by it."

Nico laughed. "Well, that's better than Punchy."

"Are you joking?" I said, "Did you _actually_ think my name was Punchy? I was at that dance club thing and that's what the director told me my name should be. He told me Nan – er, Elizabeth was too forgettable."

Nico snorted, shaking his head as he doled out more cards. "I don't think it's very forgettable."

I blushed deeply, suddenly glad that the lights in the Casa dei Giochi were dim. I felt the need to compliment him back, even though I was probably going to dial up Sophia later and, so to speak, set the hounds on him. "Well, I overheard you saying something about plastic surgery earlier to Tazza…"

He glanced up, eyes clouding over. "Yeah?" he prompted.

"I don't think you should change your face," I blurted.

Nico cocked his head. "Why ever not?"

"It's, um, good the way it is." Jeez, couldn't this guy take a compliment without squeezing every last drop of it out of me?

He actually smiled, a full-length Crest Whitestrip smile, meaning that dimples appeared. They made him look younger and more vulnerable, in a way. "Thanks. Now, since you took the seven of coins, you gain an extra point, leaving you the winner and me the loser." He stacked the cards up. "When did you get so good at Scopa?"

I rolled my eyes. "When I started having to play Tazza every time I wanted to talk to him."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, the same thing happens to me, except I guess I haven't needed to talk to him that much. I actually try to _avoid_ talking to him." He shook his head. "Ugh, I despise the man."

"Isn't he your step-father?"

"Doesn't mean anything," said Nico simply. "I mean, come on, we didn't even want to share a last name so I made one up."

"Petit?" I said, "You went with Petit?"

Nico cupped his hand around his ear. "What was that, Punchy LaRue?"

I giggled, then gazed down at the polished dark cherry wood of the table. I suddenly asked, "Hey, did you happen to find an EnV touch-screen cell phone in here yesterday?"

Nico nodded. "Yup." He fished it out of his black pants pocket and stretched his arm across the table. I noticed that he was wearing a navy blue wristwatch. "I didn't look through it or anything, though. I figured it was yours." I took it from his open palm.

"Thanks a ton," I gushed, "you have _no_ idea how bad it would have been if -" I stopped myself. I was speaking with one of the many criminals that lingered here – I should not start telling him about why it would be bad if Tazza got a hold of it.

"If what?"

"Guh…nothing." I glanced at my phone and scrolled through it, trying to see if anything about it had changed. I checked my contacts list and saw a new name. "Um…why did you put your cell phone number in…?"

Nico shrugged. "'Cuz I could. What's yours?"

I waited expectantly for him to pull his own cellie out of his pocket. He did so and waited with his thumbs poised over the keypad. I couldn't very well lie about it; what if he had seen it while rummaging through my phone? "546-7830-8756."

"Cool," he said, which was kind of weird. I hadn't expected such an Italian guy to use such normal words.

"Hey, I gotta go," I said honestly, standing up. He blinked.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I'll…uh, see you around I guess."

"Yes," said Nico, "_ciao_."

With that, I left the Casa dei Giochi. Once outside, however, I didn't stop to call Sophia. I would have felt way too guilty about it later. Sophia could find Nico by herself.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Next chapter, obviously. (:

**Disclaimer:** I don't own this!

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**7**

**"How did** you get your phone back?" asked Joe curiously, his head tilted to one side like a curious puppy.

I shrugged, hiding a smile. "I'm magic," I said simply, walking between Ned and Joe to get to my room. Ned followed me, which was annoying, since I'd been aiming for some time alone. He shut the door behind himself and took a seat on Helena's bed.

"Nancy," said Ned.

"Yo?"

"I have a feeling that we…need to talk."

Oh no – the relationship talk. "Well, yeah, we sort of do." I sat down on my own bed, facing Ned.

"I haven't really been, you know, feeling it lately," started Ned. I nodded in agreement as he continued. "So, well, I guess we should take some time off."

I shrugged. "That would be good."

He smiled a little. "'Kay. Me and Joe booked a flight back to the US that'll be in four days. What do I do until then? You seem pretty good on this whole mystery deal."

"Enjoy yourself, silly willy," I replied. "You're in Venice, for Pete's sake!"

Ned laughed. "True. I'll see you around, Nance." He left the room and shut the door behind him.

I spread my arms out backwards behind my head on the bed, my fingers lightly brushing the wall. It had actually happened. What I had been waiting for, for so long, had just happened. I almost laughed aloud.

Wait a moment, you may be saying. Waiting for so long? Whaaaaaat?

Yeah, Ned and I had kinda lost it a while ago. Sometime before that case I solved with all of those glass eyeballs. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. _And_ I had to carry those nasty things around!

All of a sudden, I heard a scream. At first, I figured I was just hallucinating from exhaustion, but then I thought of Nico and how tired _he_ had appeared – and he hadn't hallucinated anything weird. So I leapt up, tore off my wig and tossed it into the bathroom where it tried to drown itself in the sink full of water, and ran up to the altana.

"Nancy!" gasped Helena, pointing a shaky finger in the direction of Marguerite's chair, "What has happened?"

I blinked and snapped, "I should be asking _you_ that question!" I peeked around Helena's shoulder and saw Marguerite lying very still, empty eyes gazing straight up at the blazing sun. _She wouldn't be doing that if she weren't dead,_ I realized, _since she's so experienced with all this tanning nonsense._

"She's dead!" shrieked Helena, backing into me, "She's dead!"

I squealed in a mix of terror and shock as it finally sank in. Ned, Joe, and Colin came rushing up the stairs right then. Joe ran slap-bang into me, and I fell forward onto Helena. My skin burned where I touched the Evil Woman. (I'm pretty sure that a few strands of hair on my arm got burnt to a crisp.)

"Helena," I said, almost choking on the word, "when did you find her?"

"When I screamed about two minutes ago!" Helena retorted, eyes darting back and forth. I realized that she was utterly terrified, and that melted my cold exterior toward her…a little. A smidge. No, not really.

Joe walked over to Helena and patted her shoulder. "It's going to be all right," he soothed, walking her back downstairs. I felt like throwing up my meager breakfast right then and there, but that wouldn't be very respectful to the dead.

I glanced around, trying to spot any clues. That was when I noticed a navy blue wristwatch sitting on the ground nearby Marguerite's lifeless body.

I thought of Nico, and how he was the Phantom. Then I wondered if he had done this; although I hadn't found out if Nico and Marguerite had some sort of history or anything, like she and his mother hated each other's guts or something random like that. It was more likely that Tazza, Samantha, Gina (whom I had never really met, but who was also a pretty dang good chess player), or Fango performed this dirty deed. But what about the watch?

Ned stepped forward. "They stabbed her," he said. I didn't want the details, so I left then and walked back into my room. I could hear Colin and Ned discussing what to do.

But I? I knew what to do. I dried off my wig and pulled it on, patting it down so that it looked more natural. Then I headed for the Casa dei Giochi, which seemed to be where I spent most of my time lately.

I was inside the building within seconds. I located Nico quickly. He was playing Scopa with some random brown-haired lady. I hurried over to their table. "Nico?"

He glanced up. "Oh, hey, Elizabeth," he said. "Meet Gina."

I looked over at her and smiled, thinking of how ironic it was to be meeting her now when I'd just been thinking about how I'd never met her. She grinned back. "Hello, Elizabeth," she said. "If you want to speak with Nico right now, we can pause our game of Scopa." She glanced over at Nico with a playfully conceited look on her face. "I always beat him anyway."

"Oh, of course," moaned Nico. I checked out of the corner of my eye to see if he was still wearing his watch.

He wasn't.

Nico stood up and led the way outside the Casa dei Giochi, where I started to interrogate him.

"Did you kill Marguerite?" I blurted out.

"Who?"

"Marguerite! The lady that owned the Ca'Nascosta!"

Nico shook his head slowly. "Uh…no. Why would I want to kill her?"

"Well, you seem to have histories or something with everybody else around here. For some reason not many people seem to like you."

He suddenly became very interested in the cobblestone ground. He traced an invisible pattern with the tip of his black leather boot. "Yeah, well," Nico mumbled, "They have their reasons."

"And why did I hear about another Phantom theft?" I added, my brain suddenly zeroing in on the recent conversation I'd overheard between Colin and Helena (gag). I had overheard them just before getting trapped in that watery trappy thingy…where Nico had saved my life and refused to show who he was.

Nico cocked his head. "There was another one?"

"Stop acting innocent!" I spat, fed up with his games. "I know that you killed her! I found your watch lying on the ground beside her dead body! And I know that you robbed some other random person! Just stop it, okay?"

"But I didn't -"

"I said stop it!" I ejaculated angrily. With that, I whirled around and stormed away, ignoring Nico's calls to me as Elizabeth. Once he was out of sight and earshot, I pulled out my PDA and dialed Sophia.

On the third ring she picked up. "Nancy? Did you find Nico?"

"Indeed I did!" I said. "Try checking out the Casa dei Giochi again – I saw him there."

"But it didn't work last time," she said, sounding a little iffy.

"It will this time," I said. "Trust me."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Whoo, finally, an update! xD Don't worry, I didn't die. I'm just the epitome of laziness. :P To make up for it I am uploading another chapter today, too. (:

**Disclaimer:** Don't own!

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**8**

**As I** struggled to get under my bed sheets that night, I couldn't shake the guilt out of my system. I tossed and turned until Helena barked, "Nancy! Calm down!" After that I just seethed in silent anger.

And then I just had to get up. I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried, or how tired I was. I fought to get out of bed and ran a hand through the wild mop of strawberry blonde hair that flopped around in a messy bun atop my head. I stumbled over to my suitcase and unzipped it, not really caring when Helena grunted in her sleep as a result of the noise.

I dug around, searching for my favorite book that was chock-full of tips for a detective like me. When I couldn't find it, I sighed heavily and wandered out to the balcony instead, tripping over my own feet along the way.

I swung open the balcony door, and I didn't really notice when it hit something. I was met by a sudden rush of cold night air and a smell that combined salt water, rotting wood, and cologne.

Wait a second.

Cologne?

"Ow," mumbled someone from behind the door.

Oh. So that was why it thumped.

I moved the door over a little and poked my head around the corner of the glass door, expecting to see Joe munching happily on a cheeseburger, or Ned talking on his cell phone, or even Colin hungrily gazing at a few pieces of tesserae.

What I didn't expect to see looking back at me was a pair of shimmering emerald green eyes and awesome dark chocolate-colored hair.

I almost choked on my saliva. "Nico Petit!" I shrieked. He leapt up and covered my mouth with a hand. I licked his palm in response and he squeaked, jumping backwards. "Don't alert the whole house," he chided softly.

"Why not?" I whisper-screeched. "You're supposed to be in jail!"

"Didn't you hear?" he said smugly, "I escaped."

I whirled around and darted back inside. I snatched up my PDA then hastened to the balcony. I waved it in Nico's face. His eyes grew cold as he realized what it meant. "Don't call them," he pleaded, "please."

"Why ever not?" I snapped.

His forehead creased in confusion, but he shook it off. His hair rippled as his head turned. An electric shiver rolled down my spine, and I tried to figure out why the holy catfish I was feeling like this around the Phantom of all people. Colin was cute! Why didn't I feel like that around him? "Please," he begged again, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands together, "please, please, please don't call them."

I had to fight off a bizarre desire to cackle maniacally. Who would have ever thought the Phantom of Venice would be kneeling in front of me, _begging_ for me not to call the police? Whew. My life is weird. That's all I've got to say about it. "If you don't explain why you killed Marguerite, then I shall call them." I poised my thumb over the PDA as if to punch in a few buttons.

Nico jumped at that opportunity. "I don't know any Marguerite, and I don't know why I would kill her, but I do have something that could seal this deal." He pulled a long golden necklace out of his pocket and dangled it in front of my face.

"My locket!" I squealed, grabbing for it.

"Ah, ah, ah," Nico said slowly, wagging a finger at me. "Only if you promise not to call the police. I have a feeling that this is the only safe place for me to be."

"Why?"

"You're the detective," said Nico as if that explained it all. "Now, locket or no locket?"

I rolled my eyes. I would have felt guilty about it anyway if I _had_ called the police. So I reached out, snatched my locket away from him, and crammed the PDA back into my pocket. "There," I said, raising my hands up, "happy?"

A satisfied expression crossed Nico's face. "Thank you," he said. Then he went and curled up in the corner underneath an inky black cloak.

I wondered fleetingly if this whole thing was a dream, or if I was actually helping a criminal. Nah, it was probably a dream. If it wasn't, then I would have noticed how cute Nico looked when he slept.

Oh. My. God.

I have a sudden urge to scream. Or throw up. Or both.

Did I _really_ just think that? I was just getting over Ned, that's all. Yeah, that's it. Getting over Ned. Period.

Man, I need some sleep. Exhaustion does really, really weird things to people.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Told you so! ;)

**Disclaimer:** Uh, yeah, still don't own.

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**9**

**The next** morning I woke bright and early, my Sleep-O-Meter filled to the brim. I popped up, scurried to the bathroom, quickly changed, straightened my hair, then skipped out to pull on my shoes.

That was when I recalled the night before.

Thankfully, Helena was already up and at 'em, so I didn't have to deal with her. I walked out to the balcony and stepped out onto it carefully. I peered down at the gray-green waters below me then turned toward a cloaked lump in the corner of the balcony. "Um, yo?"

The lump shifted around and made a yawning sound. Nico Petit carefully lifted the edge of his cloak and peeked out. "Hi," he whispered, eyes darting back and forth. Just like Helena, I realized that Nico was scared out of his wits.

"What's got you so down?" I asked in a sing-song voice, sitting on the balcony across from him. "The police ain't got ya."

"Yet," he added ominously, yawning again. That was when I noticed he had one faint freckle above the right corner of his lips. That was also when I felt an urge to smack myself upside the head.

"Nah, seriously, man," I said, "you look all weird."

"Thanks," he snorted softly, reaching up to scratch his disheveled brown hair.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't mean weird like ugly weird, I mean weird like scared-out-of-your-brain weird."

Nico blinked. "Wouldn't _you_ be? Jail isn't exactly a walk in the park."

I wasn't satisfied with his answer. There was something in his eyes that said he was telling the truth, just not all of it. "Whatever," I decided aloud.

"Uh," he began, "I hate to ask you this, but, well, I'm kinda hungry." Right on cue his stomach growled. Nico looked down at his flat belly and patted it, saying aloud, "Hush down there."

I tried not to giggle and excused myself, wondering where I was supposed to get him food. I mean, there was that half-empty box of yummy chocolates in the big foyer-like room, but that was about it. I could walk over to that gelato cart, but it would probably melt by the time I got back.

That was when I caught a glimpse of those sausages Colin had left for me. I hadn't eaten one, since I wasn't much of a sausage person, but hey – for all I knew, Nico could be. So I picked up the basket and carried it out onto the balcony, dropping it on the ground in front of Nico.

"Whoa," he said, "that was fast." And he started to eat.

I watched him wolf down the sausages for a couple of minutes, then left him in peace. I got out that tips-for-the-amateur-detective book out and started to read. By the time I was done with the first four chapters, two and a half hours had passed, and the sun was high in the sky. I found myself hungry and left for that gelato cart.

On the way back I wondered when Sophia would call me, angry. With perfect timing, my PDA vibrated in my back pocket.

"Nancy!" shouted Sophia, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Meaning of what?"

"He wasn't there!"

"Oh, great," I grumbled, "so he got away…again. I swear I saw him, Sophia, I really did. He was playing Scopa with Enrico Tazza."

Sophia was too busy ranting in Italian to hear me, so I hung up.

I waltzed into my room and lifted the darkly shaded maroon curtains to gaze out across the shifting waters. I was about to turn away when I heard Nico mumble something.

Out on the balcony, the basket was completely empty, and Nico was obviously way too full. He had stuck his head through two of the bars and was quite pale. _Oh, snaps,_ I thought. "Uh…Nico?"

He twisted his head around to look at me. Nico said weakly, "So you tryin' to poison me, Drew?"

"Huh?" I grunted intelligently. "What happened?"

Nico snorted. "Let's just say that a gondolier somewhere will no longer be traveling without an umbrella."

Ooh. "Um, so do you want like, water or something?"

"Thank God, your brain is back," Nico grumbled. I guess being sick puts you in a bad mood.

I hurried off the balcony and found Helena digging through a dresser in her room. I slowed down to ask, "Uh…Helena? What are you doing?"

"Trying to find my sketch pad," she explained. "I want to go out onto the balcony and draw a nearby building."

Oh, jellyfishes! "You – you can't do that, Helena,"

"Why not?"

"Because, because, because I got sick out there."

"Eew!" squealed Helena, hurrying out of the room. "Gross!"

I sighed noisily and followed her out. I walked down the street to the gelato cart and grabbed a soda. Sometimes caffeinated drinks helped me when I had a stomachache. I wondered if it would help Nico.

A wave of guilt washed over me. But then, I hadn't known that the sausages were poisonous.

Poisonous!

I walked faster. Colin had given them to _me_. He must have meant for _me_ to get sick. But why?

Nico was still leaning over the edge of the balcony. He was paler than before.

"Um, Nico, I couldn't find any water, but I grabbed a soda instead. I don't know if it will help any, but I usually drink soda when I have a stomachache, so…" I didn't even get to finish the rest of my random chatter before he snatched it out of my hands.

He took a long gulp then slammed it down. I flinched at the loud noise. Nico looked apologetic for about five seconds, then his visage darkened. "Do I know you from somewhere, Nancy Drew?"

I quickly reached up to scratch my forehead, hoping to block my face. "Uh, um, no, of course not." I hurried back into my bedroom, feeling surprised, sorry for feeding Nico poisoned sausages, and pity for that poor gondolier, whoever he was.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter. I'm going to post a couple more because this one is so short. :) Merry Christmas, by the way! ^^ And yes, this chapter is from Nico's POV.

**Disclaimer:** Really? I'm posting this online instead of putting it in the game. That should tell you all about how I don't own this.

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**10**

**The sun** slowly wheeled its disk over the horizon, signaling the dawn of a new day. Hot rays shone serenely down on Venice, seeming to radiate toward my darkly shaded hair. I woke with a yawn. All I could feel was numbness, spreading throughout me with icy calm.

I took a moment to wonder where I was. I wasn't on the rooftop of that little costume shop, which was where I normally stayed, and I wasn't passed out at the bar in Casa dei Giochi. The memories of recent happenings flashed through my mind, and I recalled the poisoned sausages.

"Yeah," I mumbled, "thanks, Drew." Then I realized that manners were of utmost importance. I didn't want her to ring the GdiF, did I?

I glanced around. I could barely see Fango's office in the distance. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and wondered momentarily, awkwardly, if there was a bathroom inside the Ca'Nascosta.

Thinking back on when I had so rudely stolen Drew's locket, for no reason at all besides some petty little foolish sentimental reason, I had seen that strange blonde woman with the green mask-thing standing in a doorway. There had been another door, I think, but it had been shut. I remembered that the blondie had screamed. I almost covered my ears thinking about it.

I looked around, making sure that nobody was watching, then let myself into Drew's room. Thankfully, no one was lingering in the room; but the door was wide open. I strode over to the door and shut it quietly, deciding not to lock it. That would seem far too suspicious.

After doing a quick once-over, I hurried into the bathroom and made full use of it. I had just washed my hands and was trying to fix my ruffled hair when someone knocked on the bathroom door. I started, accidentally tipping over a bottle of perfume. Pink liquid slid across the countertop and I cursed under my breath, trying to mop it up with a fluffy white towel I found hanging off the edge of the bathtub.

"Nancy?" called some female voice from beyond the door. I figured it was the blondie.

Oh, schnitzel. I raised my voice so that it was high-pitched and turned on the water to disguise my terrible acting. "Yes?"

"Are you getting out of there anytime soon?"

I glanced around and turned on the shower. "Uh, no, sorry."

The blondie's voice was laced with a mix of curiosity and suspiciousness. "Nancy Drew never apologizes to me," I heard her mumble. "What are you doing in there?"

"Uh, um, taking a shower." It sounded more like a question to me. However, my pathetic attempt at copying Drew's voice seemed to be up to Blondie's standards, because I heard her grumble something and footsteps as she walked away.

_That was too close,_ I thought, turning off the shower. I also turned off the sink and hoped that I hadn't wasted too much water. I glanced up at the mirror, groused at my reflection for a moment, and flicked my hair to the side. _Much better._

I exited the bathroom and looked around the room again. There was an open book lying on Drew's pillow; it was something about tips for a good detective. Having nothing better to do I swiped it and ambled back out onto the balcony, flipping it open as I sat down.

Maybe now I would know how those silly detectives always had the upper hand.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Back in Nancy's POV, the next day. :)

**Disclaimer:** Me no own.

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**11**

I woke up way too early for it to be a normal day. I stretched, looked around and realized that Helena was already gone, and then marched into the bathroom. I found my Aerie perfume bottle empty and a pink stain on the white marble countertop. I didn't bother to wonder about it before quickly changing out of my pajamas.

After I had washed my face, straightened my hair, and did all that other stuff, I meandered out onto the balcony. Nico was still deep in slumber, curled up in a tight ball in the same corner. I could've sworn I heard a faint snore. I would've been laughing at that, but as I opened my mouth to giggle, I caught a glimpse of my missing detective book.

Grumbling angrily to myself, I snatched it away from Nico, ripping it out of his fingers. That was what woke him up.

I could see in his face that he wanted very badly to say something mean, but he didn't. Instead, he scratched the back of his neck, took a deep breath, and said, "I think I shall leave today."

I felt like screaming "THANK YOU GOD!" to the skies, but I refrained. He hadn't been that bad of a tenant, besides the fact that he was a criminal. "Cool," I said in response to his random statement.

Nico blinked. He must've been expecting the screaming to the skies. "So…you are not going to call the GdiF on me?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not." At the look on his face, I snickered. "I'm just joking. Gosh."

I turned as if to walk back into the Ca', but Nico stopped me. A smirk tugged at the corners of my lips. My ploy had worked.

"Sorry," said Nico quickly, crinkling his nose as if it was hard to apologize, "I am very stressed."

"No worries," I said with a shrug, plopping down across from him. "I'm like that most days. I can see how you, of all people, are stressed."

Nico gave me a rueful half-smile. It was sort of sad to see. He shifted around and stood up, stretching his arms out. "Well," he said slowly, "I'm going to leave." He made as if to leap over the balcony edge, and it seemed to be on second thought that he added, "And thanks for, you know...saving me."

I shrugged again. "No problemo, senor."

He snorted and was gone.

I scratched the back of my head, wondering what to do. With Nico gone, there was a lot less stress in my life. Less exciting action. I meandered slowly into the room where Colin was oh-so-carefully lowering a chunk of tesserae to another chunk of tesserae. "Hiya," I blurted.

Colin let out a girly shriek and dropped the slice of tesserae to the floor. "Nancy!" he gasped, bringing a hand to his heart, "how dare you! Now I have to start all over again!"

"Oops," I said, covering my mouth in a futile attempt to hide my giggle. He shot me a glare and bent over to sweep the pieces into his hand. I suddenly felt kinda bad. "...how can I make it up to you?"

I was expecting him to say something like, 'Look at more tesserae with me!' or 'Re-do this tesserae yourself!' or even 'Break up with locket boy!' although I sort of already had. I certainly didn't expect the words, "Come with me to a masquerade dance tomorrow night" to pop out of his mouth.

"Uh...what?" I asked, even though I had caught it all.

Colin blinked innocently, dropping the tesserae pieces back onto the table. "I asked you to go with me to a masquerade dance tomorrow night at the dance club. It's not too far away."

Ugh. So he really had said that.

"I, um, have something to do," I spluttered, speed-walking into my room. Colin laughed.

"Nice try, Nancy," he called. "Please?"

Oh, no. _Not the puppy-dog eyes!_ "Okay, Colin," I said, rolling my eyes, "I'll go with you." And suddenly, I realized that I had to ask Joe and Ned to go with us. Just to make it a more enjoyable event.

I almost laughed aloud. Colin? Dancing? Date? _Enjoyable?_

Less painful. Yeah, that described it much better.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Haha, well, sorry about the lateness of this update. :P No excuses. No more worries, either, because I'm just uploading the rest of this lovely story now! :D Enjoy! :)

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

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**12**

**It was** unfortunate enough that I had to go to a dance with Colin. It was even more unfortunate that I had to waste such a pretty blue dress and such a rockin' awesome mask on such a silly date (gag). Colin escorted me to the dance, and so I had to dance with him.

That turned out to be the most unfortunate thing of all.

Colin repeatedly stepped on my toes, and in response I stepped on his feet back. He whined, "What did you do that for?"

I rolled my eyes. "I could ask you the same thing." Colin's eyes widened in shock, and I slipped away as his grip loosened.

I crawled under the refreshment table, hearing Colin calling my name in an intense search for me. I wasn't at all surprised to find another girl about my age also hiding beneath the table.

She peered at me from under brown sidebangs. "Who are _you_ hiding from?"

"Colin," I said with a shrug. I had no idea who this girl, under a red feathery mask, was, so I figured it was safe to talk to her. "Colin Baxter, that is. Waaaaaay too intense and a _really_ bad dancer."

She laughed. "I'm Gina," she said, and I'm pretty I almost had a heart attack. "I'm hiding from Joe Hardy."

"Oh, really?" I blurted, surprised, "I know him."

"Bad dancer," she explained, "and all he talks about is cheeseburgers. Occasionally banana pudding, but mostly cheeseburgers."

I giggled. "Yeah, they're his obsession. I'm Nancy…"

We continued to chat until we could hear the DJ announce that it was the last dance. "Well," I said, starting to back out of the perfect hiding spot, "I'm off. Last dance. Might as well make the most of it." Gina waved as I left her alone beneath the refreshment table.

As I straightened up, I felt someone's eyes on my head. I turned around and came face-to-face with that achingly familiar glowing green gaze. I knew it was Nico even though he was wearing a mask.

Nico extended his hand toward me. "Care to dance?"

I had a feeling he knew who I was. I swallowed and placed my hand in his. "Naturally."

He led the way onto the dance floor, where various other couples were gathering. I took a moment to realize that Nico looked good in a tux, and then, we began to dance.

This dance was flawless, effortless. Nico did not once step on my toes. Thankfully I didn't do anything klutzy, either. I noticed Ned and Gina dancing nearby, and that they were trying to outdance Nico and I. So I leaned forward and hissed, "Twirl and dip at the end."

Nico nodded once with half a smile. "Oh, and thanks for the dance…" he whispered at the twirl. I felt his warm breath on my ear as he pulled me back up from the dip. "…Nancy _Elizabeth_ Drew."

I was so shocked that I didn't say anything before he walked away. How did he find out? Who told him?

Was he psychic?

Right then and there, I decided that I needed to learn more about that boy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own.

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**13**

**The next** day was when Joe and Ned were planning on leaving. However, Ned didn't make it that far.

I had just gotten up when I heard a communion of voices, all chattering loudly and one high-pitchedly squeaking. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and swung open my bedroom door, surprised to find a crowd collected beyond the doorway.

"Uh...?" I called loudly. A tall olive-skinned woman with wavy black hair turned toward me. She narrowed her sea-glass-blue eyes.

"Nancy?" she asked in an Italian accent, "Is that you?"

I nodded, a little hesitantly. Then a piece of the puzzle came to me. "Sophia!" I gasped. "I'm so sorry about that whole Nico Petit thing, I really did see him at the Casa dei Giochi -"

Sophia shrugged. "It is all right, Nancy. My detectives have gotten a lead." I swallowed a lump in my throat and nodded again.

"What's going on?" I asked curiously. I stood on my tiptoes to peer over some dude's head and found that he had been crouching down. He straightened up and towered over me. I felt increasingly short as I looked on.

It was Sophia's turn to swallow. "Well," she began, "I was hoping you would know what happened here."

I blinked, not really understanding. "Seriously, Sophia," I said, "What is happening here? What has happened here? Is anyone injured? Did anything go terribly wrong?"

Sophia scratched the back of her neck. "You could say injured..." she started. I didn't hear the rest of her sentence, for I was shoving through the crowd, shouting something random about my pink bunny slippers needing room to breathe.

But I needed the most room to breathe when I looked down at the floor. In fact, if everyone hadn't backed off right then, I might have dropped to the floor dead.

I wouldn't have been the only dead one in the Ca'Nascosta.

"NED!?" I shrieked, letting out a guttural sob. I collapsed to the floor beside his cold body, weeping louder than I ever would have thought possible. Colin pushed through the crowd to comfort me, but I didn't care. If I had I would've smacked him in the face and yelled at him to back off.

Joe walked up to my other side. He was the one presence that I welcomed at the moment. "It'll be okay, Nance," he promised solemnly.

I blinked open my eyes wide enough to look at Ned one last time. I didn't dare put my eyes on his head, I would've died just looking at him. Instead, I lowered my gaze to his hands, in which there laid a snow white envelope. On the front of the envelope, written in creepy blood red letters, there read, "Nancy Drew."

I wouldn't have noticed the envelope, if I hadn't been focusing so hard on Ned's stilled hands. I took a deep, shaky breath, and carefully removed it from his fingers. Joe rubbed my shoulder encouragingly, and after I gave him a thankful glance, I tore open the envelope.

With a small gasp, I reached up to cover my mouth. Colin poked his head over my shoulder to look down at the open piece of paper. He arched a single eyebrow and mumbled something unhelpful.

I, however, scanned the letters that danced across the page again and again. I couldn't get the words to sink in. All I could think was, _They killed Ned. They killed Ned. They killed Ned..._

And then Joe read the letter aloud to Sophia.

"Nancy Drew, if you don't stop sticking your snooping nose into our business, this could be you."

Colin looked really faint. His face was paler than mine. "Nancy?" he asked quietly, placing a clammy hand on my shoulder, "Are you going to be okay?"

I sniffled, then hissed, "I would be better if you took your hand off my shoulder." He got the hint and took a small step backwards.

Joe, however, took a step forward, and whispered loud enough for me to hear and nobody else to hear, "I can stay another day, if you want, Nance. I don't really think that you'd want to stay by yourself with...um...Helena and Colin..."

I shook my head, wiping my forearm under my nose with another sniffle. "Thanks, Joe, but I don't want to keep you from Bayport. I know you were looking forward to getting back."

He snorted and gently punched my arm. "Are you joking? Looking forward to getting home? I'm in Venice, Nance, not at the lake. I might as well be in Italy!"

That made at least some of the tears fade away. Joe led me away from the scene, where Sophia had begun to direct several different forensic scientists. The very thought of them going through Ned's DNA made the tears return.

This would be a very, very long day.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

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**14**

**Since I** was still pretty much bawling on the floor, Joe tried not to leave until later in the day. The next day, of course. However, he had a plane ticket for about seven thirty in the morning (when everyone else was still asleep), and he had to leave. Non-refundable ticket, see. Man, I hate those things.

I stayed in bed all morning, trying to decide what to do about Ned being dead, like who to call, and what to do about Sophia, who was still lingering somewhere in the living room. So having nothing else to do, I called Prudence Rutherford.

"Hello? Marguerite?"

Oh, snap. Did nobody tell her that Marguerite was _dead_?

"Um, actually, it's Nancy. Nancy Drew."

"Oh," Prudence said. She sounded a little wilted. "I was hoping for a call from Marguerite. We have many things to discuss, her and I."

"Prudence, I - I hate to have to tell you this, but Marguerite…she won't be calling you."

"Why? Is she too busy tanning?"

"She's dead."

There was silence on Prudence's end of the line. Then she exclaimed, "Marguerite always was a smart one! Her way of getting out of talking to me about my stolen things! Her way of avoiding talking to me at all!"

"Uh, Prudence, she was stabbed."

"…oh. Well, thanks for telling me, dear. I'll just be going along now. Ginger is barking madly and I don't know why…oh, Lord - I know why. Hey, you, drop that monstrous thing you call a purse! I don't see why -"

And she hung up. I gazed down at the cream-colored phone in my hand, shocked. Prudence didn't seem too sad.

Then I remembered how Marguerite had insulted my outfit every single time I'd gone up to talk to her, and how she's even gone after my straightened hair. Okay, so maybe Prudence had her reasons.

Just like I had my reasons for being sad about Ned.

Great. Now I'm about to start sobbing again.

No! Mystery! Focus! I literally smacked myself in the head, picking up my phone. I was wondering who to call, staring down at it, when it started to ring. I should have realized that it was Nico because of the ringtone – _Good Girls Go Bad_ by Cobra Starship.

"Uh, hi?" I squeaked.

"Hey, Elizabeth-slash-Nancy, it's Nico."

Oh yeah. He knew. I wonder how the Papermate pencils he figured it out. "Um, what's up?"

"The police have been inactive for days."

"Well, yeah. Sophia is…well…" I didn't really want to mention the whole Ned-has-died thing.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that." Great. He thought I was talking about how Sophia was still mad at me. (Which she was.)

"No, it's okay."

"Thanks for, you know, saving me."

"No prob."

"And be careful out there."

That rang bells in my head, signaling 'Ned line! Ned line!' Oh this is gonna be nice. Thanks, Nico. "O - okay."

"Whoa, are you okay?"

"Um, yeah. To - totally."

"No, you're not. What happened? Never mind, I'm coming over there."

"Whaaaat?"

But he had already hung up. Man, what was it with all these people hanging up on me mid-conversation these days? Had I really become that annoying?

I distinctly remembered a time when I'd called Ned annoying, and I slowly sat down on my bed, trying to hold back tears. And I'd thought I'd been all out of tears. I'd thought that my tear ducts had run out of battery, but apparently, they were like Energizer Bunnies. They just keep going.

There was a rap-rap-rap at the balcony door. I stood up and stumbled over to it, swinging it open. Nico. Of course.

"Hey," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. I noticed that he was wearing a black collared shirt today rather than just a random form-fitting black shirt. Uh…forget I said that.

"Hi."

"Seriously, what happened?" Nico led the way out onto the balcony, sounding quite concerned. It almost made me want to laugh. Who ever would have thought that the Phantom, the criminal, would be concerned about why I, the detective, was crying? My life is a strange one.

I blurted out the answer before I could stop myself. "Ned died."

And then, as I said it, it became true. I hadn't really thought about, you know, never seeing Ned ever again, never hearing him laugh ever again, and the tears started to come. Stupid Energizer Bunny.

I tried to think of Ned as going down bravely in battle with an evil villain, but all I could remember was the guy who loved sour cream and onion dip and loved to watch the Superbowl. Nevertheless, I cried harder.

Nico looked like he didn't know what to do. I wouldn't have known what to do, either, if I were him. All I know is that I wouldn't have done what he did next.

He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head, all the time saying comforting words, offering condolences. But what surprised me the most was that I didn't back away.

And even as I staunched my flow of tears with Nico's shirt, Antonio Fango put down his binoculars and picked up his camera.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

* * *

**15**

**I had** an interesting sensation filling my bones. I was sad, exhausted, excited, happy, and moody all at once. If Joe could've seen me, he would probably be glad that he'd already left. I began to work through the tangles in my strawberry blonde hair with a comb. I had just hopped in the shower; Nico had left about three or four hours ago.

Hmm. Nico. Curious character.

Well, aren't all boys unpredictable? I tugged on one strand of hair a little too hard as my thoughts went to Colin. Ugh. He was a despicable fellow.

Right on cue, I heard Colin shout from the other room, "Helena! Have you misplaced my sea-weed-green tesserae? I can't seem to find it…"

"That's the one your dear Nancy broke!" called Helena.

Colin mumbled something about 'dear' and 'Nancy' but I didn't catch it, which was probably a good thing. I might've run out there and slapped him across the face. Strange mood I was in.

I ungracefully tossed the golden comb into the sink, where it splashed in some soapy water; then I scurried out to my room, where I flopped backwards onto the bed.

I had just begun really thinking through this whole case when my eyes began to flutter shut. _Ugh...now is not the time for sleeping, Drew!_ I thought to myself. But of course, as sleep normally does when asked to leave, it came to me and engulfed me in murky darkness.

With a start, I woke myself from a dream. It was slightly nightmarish. I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself as I slowly sat up. I stumbled off the bed and checked my reflection in the mirror. My hair was all tangled and a complete mess. I heaved a sigh and worked through the tangles with a brush.

After I finished with my hair, I wandered out into the main room. I avoided Colin's gaze, which was probably the best idea considering that he might still have been mad about that whole sea-weed-green tesserae thing, and ambled over to Helena instead. Ha! That was a first for me.

"Um, Helena?" I asked quietly, poking her shoulder.

Helena almost jumped out of her seat. Papers flew everywhere, floating to the ground like snowflakes in the winter. She twisted around, arms folded, to scowl at me. "Pick those up!" she snapped.

I shrugged. Normally I would have retorted with some snarky comment, but hey: it was the least I could do. After I scooped up all of the different-colored papers, I opened my arms and they landed in Helena's lap. She crinkled her nose, as if my touching the papers made them toxic. "What time is it?" I asked her.

"Uh, don't you have a cell phone?" Helena didn't wait for me to answer. "It's almost five o'clock." With that, she whirled around in her chair and began scribbling furiously on a scrap of lined paper.

Hmm. Maybe it was time for some Il Dottore searching to start.

I was waltzing into the Casa dei Giochi within minutes. I caught a glimpse of some tall figure with darkly shaded brown hair standing in the back, facing Enrico Tazza. I made a beeline for Nico, and he looked over at me. Our eyes met, and then, he walked away.

Shocked, I came to a stop. I watched as he left me all alone in the back of the club. I heard a giggle from somewhere to my right. I twisted around and scowled at the first person I saw, who happened to be Gina.

"Yes, Nico's a funny one," she said, playing with a deck of cards. "You never know when he's going to talk and when he's going to walk." She laughed to herself at the rhyme and gestured at the empty seat across from her.

I slid into it, frown fading. "What's up?" I asked.

"Not really anything," Gina admitted. "I've been rather bored lately. T – er, Il Dottore – hasn't been giving me _anything_ to do."

What had she been about to say? It sounded almost like she was going to say Tazza…no, that wasn't possible, he couldn't be Il Dottore. _Could he?_

"I've gotta go," I said suddenly, standing up and walking away. "I'll see you around, Gina!" What I really needed at the moment was some alone time. _Thinking_ time. I hadn't had a bit of that in quite a while.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

* * *

**16**

** I was** finally back at the Ca', with sleep on my mind. It was an interesting sensation, to be exhausted yet peppy; it was like a caffeinated drink, except with the bubbles and without the caffeination.

With a heavy sigh I let myself into my room and flopped onto the bed, not without shutting the door. I was actually about to drop off to sleep right then and there when I felt something hard beside my cheek. It was really annoying me, so I sat up and found a snow-white envelope on my pillow.

"What's this?" I asked aloud. I turned it over and tore it open with my teeth, finding that much easier than trying to pull it open with my fingers. I always ended up with a papercut or two when I did that.

Inside the envelope was an off-white chunk of paper that brilliantly contrasted with the bright white envelope. The glare made me squint as I tried to read what was on the paper. Every letter was in a different type of font, kind of like with ransom notes on mystery television shows. I always found that irritating: how was the detective supposed to know who'd written it?

Nancy Drew

Back off and leave us alone if you

Know what are good for you

Well. Whoever this guy was, he had terrible grammar. And what was with the whole 'us' thing? Perhaps he was a leader in the crime ring.

My first thought was to call Nico and ask him what he thought of this, but then I remembered that he was ignoring me. Anger surged through my veins all of a sudden. First he had been chivalrous but sealed as a clam. Then, he'd been all sweet and innocent and open. And now he wasn't even chivalrous! What sort of dude _does_ that?

I snatched up my phone and scrolled down through my contacts until I reached Nico. I hit the call button and waited for it to stop ringing. Of course, he didn't pick up, so I resorted to texting him.

**NANCY:** NICO I'M GONNA KILL U!

I know. Slightly harsh, but it was how I felt at the moment. I tossed my phone across the room and it hit the wall beyond Helena's bed. That was when I heard a _ding_, signaling that a text-message had been received.

I almost dove for my phone and snapped it open.

**NICO:** SRRY I WAS IGNORING U OK?

**NANCY:** R U GOING 2 X-PLAIN?

I didn't expect an answer and wandered into the bathroom. I had been playing with different hairstyles for fifteen minutes when I finally heard a _ding_. There were several messages from Nico.

**NICO:** NO

**NICO:** WELL, MAY-B

**NICO:** I GUESS SO

**NICO:** R U THERE, DREW?

**NANCY:** THE NAME IS NANCY & YES I AM HERE. R U GONNA CALL OR WAT?

**NICO:** NO I CANT CALL

**NANCY:** …

**NICO:** MEET ME OUTSIDE THE CA-NASCOSTA IN 10 MIN

**NANCY:** *SIGH* FINE. BUT U BETTER X-PLAIN EVERYTHING!

I figured that I had gotten my point across and suddenly wondered what to wear. You may be asking how I got over the fact that Nico changed so fast rather quickly: well, that's just me.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

* * *

**17**

**Within** **the** next ten minutes, I was standing outside the Ca'Nascosta in the cool evening breeze. The sun was dipping down past the horizon line, and the wind became stronger as I waited impatiently for Nico to appear.

I turned away from the entrance to Ca'Nascosta to gaze down at the dark waters that rippled beside the pathway. The air pushed my strawberry blonde bangs into my face, making it impossible to see. That was when Nico decided to show up. Or at least, show himself.

"Drew?"

I didn't even turn to look at him. Instead, I growled, "It's Nancy. I don't call you Petit, do I?"

"No," he said, "but you could, if you wanted to."

I finally twisted around to look him in the face. I was shocked to see that he was wearing color. It was the first time ever that he'd worn anything other than black. Nico was wearing a blood red button-down long-sleeved shirt. "I don't want to," I admitted.

"Good with me," he said, nodding once. I noticed that he didn't even offer a weak half-smile.

"What's wrong?" I asked suddenly. He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "I'm being completely serious, Nico. I want to know what is going on."

He didn't say a word. I was about to say something again when he suddenly grabbed my shoulders and twirled me around so I was facing him. Something in his eyes, that passionate, glowing green gaze I'd come to know, was missing. His eyes weren't glowing anymore; they were more reflecting. It was like his eyes just couldn't shine anymore. I felt his hot breath on my face. "No, you don't, Nancy Drew. You shouldn't want to know."

I lowered my eyes, a panicky feeling setting in. His grip tightened on my shoulders and I grimaced. He dropped his hands and gazed at them, empty-eyed, as if he didn't know what he was. Who he was.

"Sorry," he whispered. I almost didn't catch it. Nico took to staring out into the dark tranquil waters of the nearby canal. He sighed noisily and held his face in his hands. "I'm so, so, sorry," he continued, in a quiet voice. "I shouldn't have brought you into this. I should have thought…" Nico shook his head and tugged at his hair. He seemed to be overwhelmed with self-hate for several moments.

I despised seeing him like this, but I had no idea what to do. I cautiously reached over and lightly touched his forearm. He glanced up, surprise glittering his eyes; it was as if he had forgotten I was there. "You can tell me, Nico," I prodded gently.

He shook his head again. "N – no," he faltered. "I can't. I mean – I don't know – you don't want this, Nancy."

"You're right," I said, drawing back and folding my arms, "I don't."

Nico blinked and his eyes met mine. "You don't want him to have power over you."

Instead of waiting patiently like I should have, I blurted, "Huh? 'Him?' Who's 'him?' Do I really want to know?"

He laughed bitterly. "You shouldn't want to know," Nico said, "but you do, I can tell. So you know what? I'm going to tell you." He looked back down at his hands and wrung them, almost in desperation. "He blackmailed me, Nancy."

Oh, no. I could tell where this was going.

"He blackmailed me into everything. Every single little thing I did, he had control over. I think that he was just trying to please Il Dottore, but I can't be sure." Nico glanced over at me, a wry grin tugging at the corners of his lips. He must have seen the question in my eyes. "Fango," he hissed, with such hatred and disgust that it brought to mind the destruction of a hurricane. I almost thought that a nearby gondolier might even drop dead.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. For some reason I'd been afraid that Nico was going to say Enrico Tazza. Nico twisted around to give me a weird look. Oh. I must've sighed really loud. "I'm just sort of relieved."

"Huh?" grunted Nico, forehead creased in confusion.

"For a second I thought you were going to say Tazza. That would've been really bad, you know, since he's your step-father and all."

To my surprise, Nico threw back his head and laughed. I watched him do so with a strange desire to join him. "What's so funny?" I asked, feeling a little resentful and at the same time a little relieved.

"You," he said, lowering his eyes to meet mine.

It was then that I noticed how close we were standing. There was no need for words. Emotion vibrated the air between us. Nico's eyes settled on my lips, and he started to lean in. He kissed me gently, and I couldn't resist the temptation to slip my hands around his neck. He pulled me closer, and we kissed until I was so giddy I was giggling.

Nico pulled back, an expression that mixed confusion and amusement crossing his face. "What's funny?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

He finally smiled for the first time that night. "You really are something, you know that?" Nico turned and looked around, fear suddenly prominent in his eyes. "I must leave you now, Nancy."

I cocked my head. "Uh…okay. When will I see you again?"

His eyes met mine. "I don't know."

And he was gone.

I stood outside the Ca' for several more minutes, thinking about how evil Fango was and how messed up Nico's life was. I turned around to go back inside when I heard something crack behind me, as if someone had stepped on a rock, or a twig.

Whirling back around, I felt foolish when I realized there was nobody there.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. _You're losing it, Drew,_ I thought, _first, you're kissing a criminal. Next, you're thinking that someone's gonna come kidnap you. What's next? A _real_ kidnapping?_

That was when I got hit in the back of the head with something very, very hard. I collapsed forward onto the cobblestone street. The last thing I thought was, _How ironic._


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

* * *

**18**

**My head** hurt. Well, the back of my head. It hurt really, really badly. I wanted to reach up and gingerly touch the back of that aching head of mine, but for some reason, my arms were like weights. Weights that weighed over twenty pounds (twenty pounds is as high as I'll go when lifting something, I mean, come on! Who can lift _over_ twenty pounds?).

I heard a slightly maniacal cackle from somewhere to my right. That was when I remembered to open my eyes. I blinked them several times to adjust to the light.

"Nancy Drew," whispered an eerily familiar voice.

I twisted around and caught sight of Colin Baxter. "Colin!" I snapped, "What are _you_ doing here? Is this a dream? If so, I have things _very_ mixed up!"

Colin's nose scrunched up as he laughed. "This isn't a dream," he said between peals of evil laughter. "This is very, very real." He reached his hand back and pushed someone forward. "Does it still feel like a dream?"

I almost couldn't hear his last words. Anger was reverberating through my skull, ripping through my veins. I could've lifted _any_ weight then. "Drop dead!" I spat at the young man who stood before me.

Hurt flashed through his emerald green eyes, but I didn't care. I hoped that I had put as much anger into my most recent statement, er, declaration, as Nico had said the name 'Fango' with not so long ago. The memory of speaking with him only made me more furious: with him for betraying me, and with myself for trusting a common criminal.

Enrico Tazza stepped forward from behind Nico, with barking laughter. "I see you and Nico have met, so no formalities are required."

"Good," said a fourth voice. This one was higher pitched and slimy. On any other occasion I would have said it was silvery, but knowing Samantha Quick? Slimy was a much better description. "I always hated introductions."

I growled, "So where's Fango? Off playing chess with Gina?"

A shadow crossed Tazza's face. I figured it was shock, and he was just good at covering it up. "My, my, my," he chuckled, "you do know a lot about us."

"I thought I did," I muttered, shifting my eyes toward Nico for less than a second. He kept his eyes on the floor. Again, there was something wrong with those eyes: I wondered momentarily what was wrong. I corrected myself in a millisecond and directed all of my emotions into anger.

Samantha tilted her head a little to the side, making a puppy-dog expression. "Aaw," she cooed in a sickly sweet voice, "is the wittle detective sad?"

I had meant to say nothing and just think my next sentence: instead, I thought the word 'shut' and screamed, "UP!"

Colin's forehead creased in confusion. He actually looked upward. If I were in any other situation I would have asked him why gullible was written on the ceiling. Instead, I turned toward him and said, "I didn't know you were so into being a common criminal, Colin. Or should I say Justin? It gets rather confusing with all these different names."

Before Colin had a chance to toss off a snotty reply, Nico piped up, "Oh, wouldn't I know it?" I twisted around to glare at him. He glared back. Either he was an extremely good actor and should've gone with theater rather than thievery, or he was sincerely mad and terrible at hiding his emotions.

"Don't worry," said a new voice, sleazier than all the others. I whirled around.

"Fango," I hissed, hoping to scare him out of his ugly mustard-colored plaid blazer.

Antonio Fango laughed. I wondered if all dark and evil villains, behind closed doors, discussed with their minions who would have what evil laugh, because somehow, they all managed to have different evil laughs.

"Well," said Colin, "since you haven't got much time left, Drew, I might as well explain this whole…masquerade."

Enrico shot a glare in Colin's direction. He cleared his throat and stepped in front of Colin. "_I_ will explain," said Enrico, "because _I_ am the one that started this whole thing, Justin, and you will do well to remember that."

Justin/Colin/Mr. Baxter/Mr. Beaumont/an annoying pervert frowned and slumped his shoulders, stepping backwards and allowing Enrico to step forwards.

Enrico cast a vile grin down at me. I resisted the urge to shudder. Enrico noticed and his disgustingly cruel smile widened. "I'm first in command here – I am, in fact, _the_ Il Dottore." He noticed my gaping mouth and his full smile became a simple smirk. "Didn't expect _that_, did you, my ickle detective friend?"

Firstly, I was shocked that Tazza, of all people, was Il Dottore. Secondly, I was even _more_ shocked that he had called me 'ickle.' Thirdly, I was shocked most of all at the fact he had referred to me as anything other than 'stupid' or 'detective.'

Enrico continued, "And our second in command here is Justin. Our third, you are wondering? Sam." I glanced over at Samantha to see how she responded to that friendly little nickname. Let's just say that she didn't look too happy about it. "And then comes Fango, who found Nico for us." Enrico looked over at Nico. "I'm surprised at you, boy. _You_, little innocent wide-eyed Nico, went all criminal."

Nico bit his lip. I avoided his eyes. Maybe he hadn't been lying about that whole blackmail thing.

"And just to make sure that you're really into, as the detective puts it, 'being a common criminal,' I'm going to have to give you these orders." Nico looked hesitant, almost scared. Then I was the scared one as Enrico finished, "Kill the girl."


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** Don't own.

* * *

**19**

**At that** point I looked up into Nico's wide almond-shaped eyes, almost sure that I caught a glimpse of fear somewhere in them. But then, they were hard and ice cold, and I couldn't decipher anything. The wall was back up, and higher than ever.

I waited, sweat gathering on my forehead, on my palms, in my armpits. Anything that Nico said next could lead to certain death.

Nico cleared his throat. Everyone, who had already been staring at him, as if trying to look through him, might as well have perked up. I leaned toward him, frightened, anxious, and trying to deal with an adrenaline rush.

"Why don't we keep her here? You know, for a few days, until the GdiF have calmed down a bit in their search."

Enrico tilted his head back and forth, contemplating the new idea. The silence stretched out, taut: it was broken easily as Enrico said, slapping Nico on the back, "I like your thinking, boy. Why kill her now, when we can kill her later?"

With that, they all filed out, Nico at the front. If he had been at that back of the line, I might have threatened him with a sentence or two, but noooo. He _had_ to go first.

I went to kick the ground, but my legs were tied to the chair I was sitting on. And of course, I couldn't stretch the cramps out of my arms, since they were also tied to the chair. Couldn't they have at least made it a comfy swivel chair?

My expectations of criminals have been lowered.

**I was** so bored by the end of the first day that I had resorted to singing.

Yes, you read right. _Singing_.

Singing all of the songs I could think of. I started with _You Found Me_ by the Frey, and that led to _Boyfriend_ by Ashlee Simpson, and that led to _Wake Up_ by Hillary Duff, and that led to _Waking Up in Vegas_ by Katy Perry, and I could go on and on and on and on – but I won't. Because that's even _more_ boring than singing those songs.

I woke up the second day of my captivity to a sudden bout of hopelessness. Joe was gone. Ned, of course, was gone. The only people that could help me were Sophia or Helena. Now, Sophia I could count on, but Helena would probably be glad I was cooped up.

Sophia.

I began to frantically search my pockets for my PDA, meaning that I started bouncing up and down in the chair. At one point, the chair fell forward, squashing my face against the ground. I had an extreme temptation to curse. Loudly. But I didn't.

Instead, as a mix of desperation, anxiety, hunger, and thirst, I began to cry. Hot, angry tears spilled out, wetting the ground and my face. I almost didn't notice when hands, other than my own, fumbled with the ropes that bound me. But I did notice when someone with sparkling emerald green eyes lifted me up off the ground.

"Nico!?" I screeched, all of my pent-up anger suddenly unleashed. I started punching and kicking every inch of him I could reach. He flinched but didn't move. Rather than moving out of my way, he closed in on me. I was surprised to find that he was _hugging_ me.

Normally that would've made me even more angry, but it wasn't a normal day, if you hadn't noticed. I struggled to get away one last time before giving in. I may not have liked it then, but I needed that hug, needed it much more than I'd realize. Several minutes later my angry sobs had been reduced to sniffles.

"C'mon," whispered Nico, backing up and taking my hand. He led the way out of my prison as I dialed Sophia's number. We were scrabbling out of the tunnels where the water-chamber-death-trap thing was within mere minutes.

Before Sophia picked up, I hugged Nico quickly. "Goodbye, Nico," I said. "You can leave, you know."

Nico shook his head, glancing around worriedly, eyebrows knitted together. "No, not today, Nancy," he said, backing away, "but someday I shall try to leave. Try to leave Venice and the memories."

And just like that, he was gone.

The police cars surrounded the tunnels and busted inside. I watched with empty eyes, an empty mind, and a shattered heart.

Maybe someday I'd be able to pick up the pieces.


	20. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** Me no own!

* * *

**Epilogue**

**I was** still wondering about Nico Petit's future, and what lay ahead of him in the life he had built on a foundation of sand, when my cell phone rang. It was my default tone, _I Gotta Feeling_ by the Black-Eyed Peas, so it was someone that wasn't on my contact list.

Pulling my EnV touch-screen out of my back pocket, I flipped it open and examined the caller ID. It said 'Restricted' which was a little scary, but I had to tell off whoever it was. Besides, I was a little curious.

"Hello?"

A voice I thought I'd never hear again came through the phone, crackling with the bad connection. "Nancy? Nancy Drew?"

All signs pointed to him. Thick Italian accent, that is. In my mind's eye, I could see his iridescent emerald green eyes again. I could see his dark chocolate brown hair, shifting with the wind, and I could almost hear his voice.

I must be dreaming.

"No, you're not," he said.

Oops, I must've said that last line aloud. "I must be," I said.

He let out a bitter laugh. "That's what I used to think. Daily." Nico started to say something else, but he was interrupted by a loud, deep voice that barked something about three minutes.

"Where _are_ you?"

"I'm making my call," he said. "All I've got is three minutes to explain everything, and then the phone automatically shuts off."

"Jail," I said simply.

"Naturally, Ms. Obvious," he joked. I was surprised that he was in the mood for joking.

"So…what happened after I left? Did Sophia get everyone? Are any of the Phantom Ring still out there?"

Nico heaved a sigh. I could picture him grabbing a fistful of his hair and tugging anxiously at it. "I wish. Nancy, me and Samantha Quick…we're the only ones. We're the only ones that got caught."

I let out a little gasp. "No way!"

"Unfair, I know," he said, chuckling blackly, "but that's the way life is. Anyway, I…I had a choice back there. I know that Tazza and Fango and Beaumont, or rather, Baxter, deserved to go to jail. They deserve to be here for the rest of their stupid lives. But I couldn't do it." His voice cracked, and he added, "I couldn't do it."

"Do what?" I asked curiously.

Nico continued over the loud voice that shouted something about one minute and a half, "I couldn't let them be condemned for the rest of their lives. I don't wish that upon any person, Nancy, any person at all."

I felt weak at the knees. Nico had changed, and he had changed for the better. That was what I'd been aiming for. "Nico," I choked out, "good job. You did a good job, man."

He snorted softly. "Thanks, Nance."

That was the first time he'd shortened my name. The first time he'd called me anything other than Nancy or Drew. I began, "Nico, is there anything I can do? Any way that me and my dad can help you? He's a lawyer, you know -"

"No," said Nico automatically. "I deserve this." Then came that irritating voice, calling out that there was less than half a minute left. "I deserve this for everything I've ever done."

I bit my lip, tears filling my eyes. "Nico -"

"Goodbye, Nancy Drew," he said, "forever."

"Nico!" I shouted again, into the phone: but the line was dead. My last words died on my lips, died on my tongue, as I sank sobbing to the floor.

_I love you._


End file.
